P-Town: A world away

Posted on January 9, 2007 7 Comments

Just got back from a long weekend in Peoria, IL, and as always, was blown away by the cost of living differential found just 2.5 hours south of Chicago. For instance, here are some costs of things in P-Town:

$11.50 - The cost to buy three takeout dinners at Avanti’s, a local Italian restaurant chain famous for its gondola sandwiches.

$6.00 - The cost to get hammered at Jimmy’s, tavern extraordinare, with two tall mixed drinks. Doesn’t matter what kind. They fill up pint glasses about 90 percent with alcohol, and then a splash of the beverage. Ridiculous. …ly good.

$214,500 - The asking price for this house. It’s a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2,305 square foot palace with walk-in closets, a whirlpool tub, stereo-surround wiring, garage and basement. And that’s just the first place that came on the realtor search engine.

You know what that asking price gets you in Oak Park? A nice one-bedroom, one bath condo close-ish to the train, no parking space. I’d be a rich woman in P-Town! LOL!

Anyway, my friends who live down there were lovely hosts and we had a great time. I miss my “girls’ night out” girls terribly when we don’t see each other. It’s so nice to get dolled up for a night in P-Town at all our old haunts! And it was high time for a gondola!

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7 Responses to “P-Town: A world away”

  1. savvy saver
    January 10th, 2007 @ 12:23 am

    that’s a lot of house for very reasonable price!

    I considered moving to Peoria after college. The Peoria job offered more money and a lower cost of living, but the Madison job won. Peoria just didn’t appeal to me.

  2. Nicole
    January 10th, 2007 @ 12:39 am

    I’d pick Madison, too! It’s a great town!

  3. Income Trust
    January 10th, 2007 @ 2:30 am

    You mentioned Oak Park… Are you in Kansas by chance? Because there is an Overland Park and also Oak Park Mall. :-D Just wondering

    Also wanted to know if you’d be willing to exchange links with me? Text would be “Income Trust” and my blog is “http://www.moneyvsdebt.com/” send me an e-mail if you’re interested moneyvsdebt@gmail.com

  4. Gigi
    January 10th, 2007 @ 4:12 pm

    All great and such, but the median income was $41,685.

  5. Matt
    January 11th, 2007 @ 12:39 am

    Its amazing just how expensive big cities can be; I could live like a king a couple hours out of the city but I wouldn’t make nearly as much either.

    Sounds like you had a good time.

  6. Anonymous
    January 15th, 2007 @ 8:37 pm

    Thats not a bad price! I live in Des Moines and boy do WE have it easy! $250K will get you upwards of 3500 sq ft and only add another $3800/yr for property taxes.

    http://www.iowarealty.com/buying/detail_ml.asp?list_numb=293899

    We have it easy compared to some places.

  7. Tiredbuthappy
    January 29th, 2007 @ 8:47 pm

    Yeah, funny how low cost of living is often accompanied by low wages. My city has a pretty low cost of living, but the wages are low too.

    The trick is to live in an expensive place during your working years and then retire someplace cheaper, when you don’t care as much that wages are low cause you’re not working.

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